PMR Rescues Injured Climber from High on Mt HoodThursday, December 23, 2004
(Updated December 24, 2004)

On Thursday afternoon, PMR members rescued a climber after the man was hurt
near the 11,000-foot mark on Oregon's tallest peak. The subject sustained
a severe ankle injury after a fall from the Pearly Gates, a chute just below
the mountain's summit on the South Side "standard" route. The man ended
up several hundred feet down in the crater near a feature known as Devil's
Kitchen.

PMR members Erik Broms, Marty Johnson, Chris LeDoux and Troy Norman were
climbing the mountain as part of "ready team" activities and were in the area
at the time of the accident. Johnson initiated rescue activities and
Norman began medical treatment on the man.

As more rescuers made their way to the mountain, PMR rescuers Iain Morris and
Reuben Dohrendorf skied down to Timberline Lodge to retrieve technical rescue
equipment. They gathered the PMR "Hogsback Kit" technical rescue system
and rode a sno-cat to the top of the ski area where Johnson and another
volunteer were waiting. From there, the four carried equipment up to the
scene just below Crater Rock.

PMR rescuers attend to the patient's litter as it is lowered down the slopes of
Mt Hood

While the equipment was ascending the mountain, PMR
member Jim Brewer and another climber from the Mazamas climbing club helped the
injured man hobble down from the crater to about 9,700 feet on the
mountain. Once there, the rescuers packaged the subject in a rescue
litter and slowly lowered him down the snow-covered slopes of the
mountain. Progressing 300 feet at a time, it took several hours to reach
the top of the ski area and a waiting Timberline Ski Area sno-cat. The
vehicle delivered the injured man back to the safety of Timberline Lodge just
before 7:00 PM PST.

The subject's condition is unknown, though his injuries were not considered
life threatening.

This was PMR's 16th rescue mission of 2004, 11 of which occurred on Mount Hood.